Ken Gonzales-Day's graduate thesis project was titled "Bone-Grass Boy: The Secret Banks of the Conejos River." First created in 1996, it was not exhibited in a gallery space until now. The work holds up, and it is interesting to see how these photographs fit within the trajectory of Gonzales-Day's current practice. The work was made as a response to the AIDS crisis, and explores issues of mixed race identity and gender. The work features images of Gonzales-Day portraying different male and female characters in carefully constructed scenarios set during the time of the Mexican-American war (1846-48). Using an early version of Photoshop, Gonzales-Day was able to combine different images to construct the finished image, a method of working that he continues to employ to this day
